1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods for repairing patterned layers formed over substrates employed for fabricating microelectronic products. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods for efficiently repairing photomasks employed for fabricating microelectronic products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Common in the microelectronic product fabrication art is the use of photomasks for purposes of defining patterned photoresist layers which in turn are employed for defining patterned microelectronic layers and patterned microelectronic structures when fabricating microelectronic products.
While photomasks are clearly desirable and often essential in the microelectronic product fabrication art, photomasks are nonetheless not entirely without problems in the microelectronic product fabrication art. In that regard, photomasks often suffer from defects which are difficult to efficiently repair since photomask repair methods often employ direct repair methods and apparatus which require lengthy processing time and often result in incidental damage when repairing photomasks.
It is thus desirable to provide methods for efficiently repairing photomasks employed for fabricating microelectronic products. It is towards the foregoing object that the present invention is directed.
Various methods for repairing photomasks have been disclosed in the microelectronic product fabrication art.
Included but not limiting among the methods are methods disclosed within: (1) Adair et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,080 (a photomask repair method which involves repair of defects within a photoresist layer employed for fabricating a photomask); (2) Shimanaka, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,480 (a laser alignment method for photomask repair); (3) George et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,110 (a photoresist masking layer method for photomask repair); and (4) Grenon et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,649 (a sacrificial masking layer method for photomask repair).
The teachings of each of the foregoing references are incorporated herein fully by reference.
Desirable are additional methods for efficiently repairing photomasks employed for fabricating microelectronic products.
It is towards the foregoing object that the present invention is directed.